In computer systems, event counters are often implemented to enable monitoring of the behavior and performance of system parameters. A counter corresponding to each operation/event to be monitored is incremented each time that operation/event has been completed. Monitoring software polls the values of these counters, producing snapshots that illustrate over time what operations/events the system has completed. The monitoring software usually performs polling of these values on a set interval determined by the performance analyst or system administrator running the monitoring software. The number of operations/events performed during the interval may then computed by subtracting the count returned in the previous poll from the current value, and then the average rate over the interval can be computed by dividing by the length of the polling interval.